Dear Seattle Creative Community,

This year AIGA Seattle celebrates 30 years as a chapter. It's a milestone that we are proud to celebrate and wouldn't be possible without our founding Board members and hundreds of passionate creatives like yourself. Everything that AIGA has become and will continue to be is a direct product of our community.

While AIGA is the oldest and largest professional design association around, each of our chapters are rooted in and focused on impacting our members locally first. We want to be there with you as you grow through your career. We also want you to be there with us to share your stories and foster an inclusive and diverse creative community.

Design has continued to become more of a household term and will continue to do so as the years pass. There are many places one's mind will go if you ask 'what does design mean to you?' Some may say architecture or fashion. Others will talk about brands or posters. AIGA Seattle strives to be at the forefront of this conversation to help educate both the general public and our creative community on how big this word truly is. Design is much more than how something looks or even how something functions. I find it best to view design as the intention and process behind everything that is created. Yes, everything. And as the professional association for design, AIGA aims to bring together professionals and students from multiple disciplines to learn from and share with one another.

As practitioners in the creative professions, we draw from our personal experiences in everything we do. When we are able to connect and learn from others outside of our normal purview, we become more well-rounded and able to create and craft better solutions for our clients and ourselves. Whether you are a traditional graphic designer, a UX designer, a copywriter, a design consultant, a strategist, a project manager, an educator, a developer, a student, a photographer, an architect, an illustrator, a mixture of all these or something else entirely, you are one of us.

Together we have accomplished a great deal. Together we will continue to accomplish more. During the last 5 years AIGA Seattle has made significant efforts to create more initiative-based programming and opportunities. From our Design for Good Changemaker Series to our Women Lead Initiative and Diversity & Inclusion efforts, we continue to bring selfless, like-minded creatives together to make Seattle a better place to live and to work. Not just for us, but for all who join us in calling the Pacific Northwest their home.

It's been an honor to represent you during this past year. I hope that you'll consider giving more of yourself to this worthy and necessary community. We are stronger together—and together we can make Seattle the best place for all of us.